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| Road Trip 2004 - links to images and words on the road to see Rush:
Tuesday July 6, 2004 A quick trip to Sturgis, SD on the way to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore...
At the petrified forest...
Mount Rushmore
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Tuesday July 6, 2004 We shopped for Black Hills Gold for a bit before heading off to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore. We made a side trip to Sturgis for lunch and to check out the Harley dealership there. As it turns out, the Sturgis HD dealer doesn't actually carry bikes, just logo gear. Clothes, dog collars, clocks, toy motorcycles, boots and anything else you can slap the Harley logo on. Had a really good cheeseburger at the Sturgis Riders Café, and then we were on the road again. We sidetracked one more time to a petrified forest. I remember this as being part of the parks system when the family made the trip back in 1977, but now it is located in the back ridge of a vacation village. Still, it was neat to see the giant petrified Cypress trees (one about 100 feet long, but broken into large chunks by the heaving of the ground over time). We pressed on to Rapid City and found the Howard Johnsons to check in. Oddly they had a special – free beer/wine/soft drinks to guests from 5-6:30. We took advantage of the offer before heading out to Mount Rushmore to see the night lighting of the monument. When we arrived at the parking lot, I noticed that a LOT had changed since I was last there in 1994. There was a new parking garage, to hold the capacity crowds for the night lighting. A new Hall Of Flags had been constructed, all 50 states flags flying as you walked towards the new amphitheater built at the base of the rock field. Very nicely done! We staked out a spot in the seating, and Karen and I went into the visitor center to watch a short movie on the construction of Mount Rushmore Memorial. Gutzon Borglum was a strict taskmaster, but his work (and the efforts of all the workers) turned out a moving memorial – Borglum's "Shrine to Democracy". The night lighting is a dramatic affair, with a short movie narrated by James Earl Jones (the voice of Darth Vader). A visiting Boy Scout troop served as the evening's color guard, raising and retiring the US Flag for the night.
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